The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 185

the threat that the Jews shall be expelled from their land. It is not difficult to dis• cover its hollowness. But it is propped up by common fallacies against which we need to be on our guard. J. THE PLEA. It stands on two grounds. 1. That children have a right to their faihcr's property. This is recognized in law and equity. If a man dies intestate, his family i~herit:5 _his goods ~s. a matter of course. 'l'he samo is looked for in regard to the special pnV1leges of Divine grace. 2. That numbers multiply rigltts. If Abraham had a right to the land, much more must a whole nation of his descendants hold that right. This democratic age glories in the rights of numbers. No doubt the people ha\'e rights as against privileged monopolists. 'l'hus it may well be urged in an over• populous country, that the people have certain rights in tho land, that there must be some limit at least to landlord monopoly. The same democratic feeling passes over to religion. Christ preached to the people, and" the common people heard him gladly" (Mark xii. 37). Bence the idea that privilege in religion is transferred from the monopolist to the multitude, from priest to people, from Israel to the world, II. THE FALLAOY. 1. The descendants of Abraham may not be his true children, It was a mistake to make much of descent from the great ancestor. That only condemned t\e more heavily the sins of his unworthy descendants. John the Baptist rebuked tnis mistake when he told the proud Jews that God was able to raise up children to Abraham from the very stones of the wilderness (Matt. iii. 9). St. Paul pointed out that not all who were of the stock of Israel could be accounted the true Israel of God (Rom. ix. 6). They are Abraham's children who inherit Abraham's faith. 2. Where no right exists, the number of claimants will not create it. The right to Canaan was only conferred by God's grace, and only held on condition of faithfulness. It could be and it was withdrawn when that condition was broken. The number who claimed the right could not affect the question as to the desert of the people to retain it. No one merits the kingdom of heaven. If millions claim the privileges of the kingdom, the milJions have no right to it. The number of sinners creates no right to have the pardon of sin. If the whole world deserves destruction, the whole world may be destroyed. Its numbers will not save it. If we appeal to God's grace, that applies to a single individual. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without his notice. He has infinite love for the most obscure of his 11ubjects. Therefore the multiplication of the number of the guilty will not a.rouse his pity in a new and special manner. 3. Each individual muse see!, individual grace. We cannot be made citizens of the kingdom of heaven en 'TIULsse. We must go single file through the strait gate. 4. There ia room in the grace of God for the greatest number. The multitude of applicants can never be too great for in611ite boul'.tty. The many can claim no rights. But the gospel is for them, no~ for the few. Christ came to give his life a ransom "for many" (Matt. x.x. 28). Vers. 30-33.-Popular preaching. Ezekiel illustrates the characteristics of popular preaching in his own person and example. Ho is also brought to see how vain and delusive the attractiveness of it may be. I. 'l'IIE SECRET OF POPULAR PREACHING, 1. A good voice. Ezekiel's preaching was "as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice." The first physical condition of preaching is to be able to make one's self heard. 'l'he story of Demosthenes declaim- ing with pebbles in his mouth by the seashore shows how the Greeks valued good articulation in oratory. 2. A graceful manner. Ezekiel was compared to a skilled player of music. The human voice is a delicate instrument. The manner in which it is used considerably affects the attractiveness of the speaker. An audience likes to hear pleasant speaking. 3. Rhythmic utterance. The special charm of Ezekiel's speech was compared to song and music. 'l'here is a rhythm of thought as well as of words, People do not enjoy rude shocks to their prejudices. 4. Imaginativeness. We have the substance of Ezekiel's preaching, and even in the reduced form of an abstract and a translation it teems with imagery. People enjoy good illustrations, The oonorete is more interesting than the abstract. 5. Fervour, 'l'he popular description of Ezekiel's preaching would do injustice to the prophet if we were not able to supplement it with his recorded utterances. Ezekiel was not an empty, mellifluous rhetorician. He put hiR heart into his words. 'l'hough less pathetic than Hosea and Jeremiah, and though fol I ing short of the rapture of Isaiah, he was a preacher of power and earnestness, Pleasant oH, x:xxm. 1-33.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 191